Tennessee coach Josh Heupel reveals confidence level on defense

First-year Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel’s confidence on defense continues to rise as the season approaches. After joining the team amid a mass exodus to the transfer portal, Heupel and his new staff have worked to stabilize the program and build a winning football team.

“I’m excited about that group,” Heupel said during a Tuesday press conference. “When we finished up spring, that was a really thin unit hit hard by the transfer portal, a lot of it before I had even gotten here. Adding the transfers that we added, experience for a portion of them, some youth that can have multiple years here, depth, right culture pieces as well. I think that was a huge part, being able to hit on those guys in May that has helped our defense.”

He continued: “The other part of it is the way kids that have been here since January, February have really grown inside each of their position rooms. I look at the linebacker group, as a completely different meeting room than when we were in spring ball, some of the guys came back from injury but just their growth as individuals, human beings, and understanding what we’re doing.”

Position battles

Tennessee put out its Week One depth chart earlier this week and it has Josh Heupel excited about his defense. He updated the media on what he saw throughout camp in a number of defensive position battles.

Heupel focused in on the front seven as he broke things down ahead of the season opener against Bowling Green on Thursday.

“The depth at the defensive line position – there’s great competition, you have to strain every day. Every rep counts, there’s pressure on you to go perform at a really high level. You’ve got great coaches on that side of the ball. They’re very cohesive. There is a great understanding of what we’re doing defensively and I’m excited watch these guys play on Thursday night, I really am.

Heupel then shifted to the linebackers, led by Jeremy Banks and Juwan Mitchell.

“The group as a whole has continued to grow, but those two guys have grown a bunch. Jeremy [Banks], obviously not having any time on the field with our coaching staff after being banged up coming back from surgery in the spring (has grown). Juwan [Mitchell] being new in June, getting in here and having to learn a defense (has also grown). Obviously, all of his experiences in the different defenses that he’s played transfer over, but the verbiage and terminology are different.

He continued: “Getting synchronized is really important. Both of those players in particular, play extremely hard. Their speed and their athleticism show up. Their effort and strain show up. The rest of that group does, as well. I have to just count the other guys that are in that. I think you’ll see multiple guys play at that position. Those two guys are going to play a lot of football and play at a really high level for us.”